Draft? Here’s how I’d do it:
First, this time, everyone is eligible. Men and women. Rich and poor. Smart and dumb. White and Black. Gay and straight. Metros and Retros. And so on. The only exception would be people who have already served.
Second, the draft would only be instituted when the United States is formally at war. Before anyone can be drafted, Congress will have to pass a formal declaration of war, stating, among other things, the party or parties with whom we are at war. Any conflict short of a formally declared war would have to be fought with volunteers and contractors.
Third, unlike the Cold War draft, which was for two years, the duration of military service for conscripts will be for the duration of the war. This will provide an enormous incentive to win the war, so that everyone can go home and get on with their lives. It will also provide a big disincentive to getting involved in low-intensity, long-duration conflicts. If we have to fight wars that require “nation building,” the volunteer military will fight them. Conscription will be reserved for wars that require nation smashing.
Fourth, the ages of draft eligibility will be 55 to 65.
This last point may seem a bit non-intuitive, but if you stop to think about it, it makes perfect sense.
If the United States has to put its sons and daughters in harm’s way, it should send those who are coming around the final bend in life’s race track rather than those at the starting line. The fact of the matter is that if someone must fall in battle, the country is better off in almost every way if it’s someone my age – I’m 65 – than an 18-year-old who has not yet had a chance to live, produce, and pay taxes. Better to lose the potential recipients of Social Security than those who will have to sustain it.
And isn’t it far fairer to call to the colors those who have enjoyed the blessings of liberty for a lifetime than those who have barely sipped at liberty’s cup (and, in some cases, can’t even legally buy the beer with which Sam Adams filled it). Hey, if I go out on the town, I pay the bill after I’ve eaten dinner, not before.
To be sure, there are some military occupational specialties for which the young, fit, and enthusiastic are better suited than the old, rheumy, and crafty. Most of these are in combat units. But these constitute a small minority of all military jobs, and they could easily be filled by volunteers.
The vast majority of military jobs, while often dangerous, do not require extraordinary physical fitness or stamina. They could be filled by the middle-aged just as easily as by the young. There are millions of Americans who drive trucks, repair planes, and cook meals well into their ‘60s. They could obviously do the same sort of thing in Sam’s Army.
Much of what the modern military does involves command, control, and communications – management, in other words. There are millions of Americans over the age of 55 with decades of management experience. Uncle Sam needs them. Their employers, who are itching to fire them to avoid pension and health care costs, don’t.
Psychologically, the middle-aged are probably better prepared for war than the young. By age 55, you usually begin getting intimations of mortality, a quality that has obvious survival benefits in hazardous situations. Similarly, the experience with treachery that also comes with age can be invaluable in wartime.
And, of course, when it comes to hatred and grudges, the stuff that wars are really made of, the old beat the young hands down. In war, the young enthusiasts can sustain themselves with righteous anger easily enough, but for genuine, industrial strength hate, for grudges that transcend time and space, for the psychic poison that fuels and sustains Thirty Years Wars and World Wars, that is the stuff of old men.
War, like youth, is wasted on the young. Don’t send a boy to do a man’s job.
